Life in Madrid - November 6th - November 12th - Our first visitor & day trip to Toledo

Madrid, Spain 2015-2016

November 6th - November 12th

We have a visitor!

(sorry for the font sizes...experiencing some technical difficulties)

Danny's friend Mark from University came to visit us this week.  He has been traveling for the last several months and took a fast train from a small town in France to Madrid.  

We keep him busy taking him all around the city, exploring touristy sites we were saving for his arrival!

The first day we toured around the city and went to the Prado museum in the evening.  

Gran Vía Street.  This street is constantly filled with tourist and is a very famous street.  Usually it has cars on it but it was closed for a small demonstation.

Plaza del Sol.  Said to be the centre of Spain.  Another touristy area usually packed with people.

Plaza Mayor.  This historical plaza was where they had government buildings and meetings.

It appears to be a curved building

Very cool market full of amazing looking food products but packed with people.

A small church

Cool arch

Names of some of the famous artists who are displayed in the museum of El Prado.

In the front entrance

The main hall

The second day we took a day trip to a small town less than an hour outside of the city called Toledo. Toledo is a town from the medieval period.  Part of it is surrounded by a river that was used
for protection and the town was also inclosed in a fortress wall for protection like you would see in medieval movies.

The menu of the day for the restaurant we ate lunch in.  It was so filling and delicious!

A fortress 

They sold swords and armour.

On the train that took us on a tour to see the city from the outside perspective,

One of the bridges to enter the town.

The fortress from the distance.

Danny & Mark

View of the town

Another bridge around the town.

One of the gates into the town.

Very beautiful at night!

The outside at night,

The third day we went to the park where I taught a yoga class and then we went to the Royal Palace of Madrid.  

Beautiful day at the park!

The cathedral beside the Royal Palace

The Royal Palace

The view from the back of the Palace

A courtyard in part of the Palace

The entrance to the area of the Royal Palace we toured.

A very comfy guest!

Life in Madrid - October 30th - November 5th - Halloween!

Madrid, Spain 2015-2016

October 30th - November 5th

Halloween

On Friday morning we took the morning off work because we had our visa appointment. Now we have completed all the official steps and we will just have to pick it up our visa in 30 days!

We both returned to work for the afternoon so we could participate in the Halloween events.

I was super impressed by the costumes all the teachers and the kids wore along with all the decorations!  Halloween is a relatively new holiday here and they usually only dress in scary costumes. Some people also visit the graves of their loved ones on November 1st and it is called All Saints Day.

They were watching movies, doing outdoor activities, eating microwave popcorn and having fun!

Two of my co-workers also had Halloween parties so we hopped from one to another.

We also ran into Michael Jackson hopping from one party to the other.  He could even do all the dance moves!

On Sunday I tried creating a yoga event but many of people who were interested in coming were having a rough day after all the Halloween festivities.   Luckily one of my co-workers was still interested in coming!  It worked out well because she had never done yoga so I was able to teach her some of the basics and give her one-on-one attention.

I would have made the yoga event for Monday but again it was a rainy Monday.  So it was an excuse to try another cupcake :)

Red Velvet Cupcake

Life in Madrid - October 23rd - 29th Day trip to Segovia!

Madrid, Spain 2015-2016

October 23rd - 29th

Tapapies

On Saturday night we met with a few people and went to a festival in the city called Tapapies. Around 100 restaurants/bars in one area participated and they each created a special tapa for their restaurant that cost 1.5 euros or 2.5 euros with a small beer.  That way you could taste the food at many restaurants and hop from one to another.  We went to three restaurants total.  The first one had guacamole with salmon and wasabi ice-cream all mixed together. That was interesting.  The second was egg, cheese, caramelized onions, etc. on bread and the third one was the picture below, a buttery pastry with a mixture of things inside and a shrimp on top.

Segovia

Sunday we finally did a little day trip outside of Madrid.  Spain has soooo many places you can visit and we chose this one because we could do a day trip.  This city is called Segovia and it took us about an hour by coach bus to get there.

A perspective of the size of the arches.

The aqueduct of Segovia, a 1st century Roman structure still in partial operation today, albeit not for its original purpose.

La Plaza Mayor with the Cathedral of Segovia in the background.

The Alcázar of Segovia (or Segovia Castle), originally built as a fortress but has served as a royal palace, a state prison, a Royal Artillery College and a military academy since then. It began as an Arab fort, which itself was built over the remains of a Roman fort

A view of the Cathedral of Segovia ensconced by the ancient city walls (8th century).

The armoury with a collection of medieval weaponry and armour.

The inside of the Alcázar.

We went up the tower of John II, 152 steps to an amazing view of the city.

The Cathedral of Segovia, a mid-sixteenth century Gothic Style Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Having a "tinto de verano," a fizzy wine soft-drink.

Beautiful pictures, such as this one, were easy to capture in Segovia. This is San Martín Church.

On Monday it rained....again!  I finally tried one of the cupcakes I have been eyeballing from a cute coffee shop we pass often.  It was delicious!  

On Tuesday,  a Spanish co-worker invited me to try a class at the gym she goes to that is near where we both live.  We did a latin dance cardio class and the teacher was very flamboyant!  He also taught us a halloween choreography.  My co-worker, Esther and I are thinking of teaching it to the kids for a halloween activity!